Hugh Jackman is sexy as a MF and he knows it! Why do you think he’s always running around with his shirt off?
The 42-year-old looks half his age and stars alongside the beautiful Evangeline Lilly in his upcoming movie Real Steel, out this Friday.
In the film, which takes place in the future, robots replace humans in boxing. Hugh’s character, a former boxing champion, teams up with his son played by Dakota Goyo, to build a champion robot boxer.
We caught up with Hugh to chat him up about being a daddy, training to become a boxer and of course, his role in the film.
GlobalGrind: We always want what’s hot. In Real Steel there’s this idea that we throw away the things we think are worthless and are junk, when they can end up being so valuable.
Hugh Jackman: We are very quick to throw things away. It’s a very expendable society: ‘Oh enough, I want the latest thing.’ We don’t realize sometimes we’re throwing away the very things that we need. And here is an example in this robot that reminds me of the sports movie Brady 6, which is about Tom Brady, who was the 191st pick in the draft.
Six quarterbacks were picked ahead of him and he now is a Hall of Famer and they criticized his physique, his speed, the spiral on the ball, but no one ripped open his chest and looked into his heart. That is what this movie is about. It’s about what have you got in here, that’s the difference.
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What was it like working with Evangeline Lilly and Dakota Goyo?
I love Evangeline. She’s first of all, a great actor, and I was so thrilled she did the part. She’s quite famous for saying no to things in Hollywood, but she loved the emotion of this film. She brings everything to life. There’s a scene in the film where she slaps me and that was just all ad libs. She’s terrific and I love everything about her.
Dakota, I can’t say anything bad about Dakota. I’m really proud of him. I feel like he’s almost my son in a way. I have such affection for him. He’s amazing in the part and he’s just as amazing off screen. I know that kid has got a really bright future, but more importantly, he’s going to set an example for other kid actors to follow.
Since you had so many great scenes with Dakota in this film, did you pull on your relationship with your own son? Is he stubborn as well?
(Laughs). Yes, my son is stubborn, and so many times I want to say things, but because I’m the grown up, I have to pull back. Poor Dakota was on the receiving end, and here I could say whatever I wanted and get encouraged more. It’s funny for Dakota, because he is a very polite kid and very well brought up. They tell him, ‘You can be mean and give it back to him.’ Sometimes I would catch Dakota looking over at his mom: ‘Oh no, they told me to do that so it’s OK.’
We hear your father was a boxer as well. Did you incorporate that into your character’s role?
My dad was the army champion and I found this out from his brother and my uncle. He never talked to me about it because me and my brother fought so much, that he thought if he talked about boxing, and that he was a boxer, it would be a green light for us and we would just go for it. I told him my role, so now we talk about it a lot and when I told him that I was working with Sugar Ray Leonard, I could see in his eyes, ‘My son is doing OK, he must be really doing OK if he’s working with Sugar Ray Leonard.’
How did you stay fit for this role?
I was boxing. Boxing training probably is the best way to stay fit that I know. In fact, I still do it to this day. It’s a great way to stay fit. If you can work out a way to box without getting hit in the head a lot, it’s fantastic.
